Valley skaters earn conference hockey honors

Houston senior Daniel Matveev was named the Division II Aurora Conference Player of the Year.

Matveev, a center, was joined by Hawks forwards Andrey Efimov and Zasim Konev, and defenseman Domnin Efimov on the first team.

Matveev led Houston with 31 goals and 59 points in 16 games. He also had 28 assists. Konev had a team-high 32 assists for the Hawks, in addition to 13 goals and 45 points in 26 games. Andrey Efimov finished with 27-19-46 totals in 18 games, and Domnin Efimov had 6-20-26 totals in 13 games.

In the Division II Northern Lights Conference, a trio of Palmer Moose earned first-team all-conference honors. Defensenmen Zidane Dietz and Kaleb Von Gunten and forward Elijah Von Gunten were all named to the list. Moose mentor Rusty Belanger was named the NLC Coach of the Year.

Palmer won the Division II state title in early February.

Elijah Von Gunten led Palmer in goals, assists and points, with 44-30-74 totals in 26 games. Dietz had 13 goals, 24 assists and 37 assists in 23 games. Kaleb Von Gunten finished with 14 goals, 19 assists and 33 points.

At the Division I level, Wasilla senior Karson McGrew was named the Railbelt Conference Player of the Year. McGrew and forward Robert Mikulecky were named to the first team for the Warriors. Colony forwards Logan Lofland and Dane Joseph, and defenseman Toryn Coffey were named to the second team.

McGrew and Mikulecky tied for the Wasilla team lead with 27 points. McGrew had a team-high 17 assists, along with 10 goals. Mikulecky led Wasilla with 11 goals to go along with his 16 assists.

Lofland led Colony with 20 goals and 37 assists in 27 games, and added 17 assists. Joseph led the Knights with 23 assists in 25 games. He added a dozen goals for 35 total points. Coffey had four goals and eight assists in 22 games.